Posts tagged "State College"

By Matt McClenahen of McClenahen Law Firm posted in Marijuana on Friday, July 13, 2018.

The old notion that marijuana is a "gateway drug" has been turned on its head byPennsylvania's recent decision allow medical marijuana for opiate addicts seeking to break free of dangerous and addictive drugs like heroin. As a criminal defense attorney, I have had many clients switch to marijuana as they tried to escape enslavement to opiates. Like any logical and rational person, I believe that if one is using marijuana instead of heroin, it is an improvement! But some probation officers and judges were not in agreement, and they used to have the law on their side. For too long, recovering opiate addicts would be thrown jail for smoking marijuana in violation of a zero-tolerance approach to illegal drug use while on probation. Pennsylvania's new, enlightened approach is especially noteworthy to those of us well-versed in the history of American drug policy. When imperial, scientific evidence showed that marijuana was not the "assassin of youth" portrayed by "Reefer Madness" era prohibitionists like Penn State's own Harry J. Anslinger, Drug War hawks adopted the "gateway drug" argument to justify continued cannabis prohibition. The long-discredited gateway drug argument posits that those who smoke marijuana would eventually move on to hard drugs like heroin, because most heroin addicts smoked marijuana before they ever tried heroin. The Gateway Drug fallacy is a classic example of correlation not equaling causation. Only a tiny percentage of marijuana users have ever gone on to use heroin. Likewise, most heroin addicts also smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol before ever trying heroin, but these drugs, which are certainly more harmful and more addictive than cannabis, were conveniently omitted from the "gateway drug" argument. Now, Pennsylvania has legally recognized marijuana as a "gateway drug" away from and not into opiate addition. Although there is medical research in support of this policy change, it is still a bold move, when one considers that there are still a few dinosaurs around in positions of power like US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who cling to the notion that marijuana has no medicinal value and leads to hard drug abuse. I suspect that some people who use marijuana as a bridge away from opiates may eventually stop using marijuana and achieve full sobriety. Others may continue to smoke marijuana the rest of their lives as a buffer against relapse into opiate addiction. Either scenario is preferable to continued opiate addiction. Matt McClenahen is a criminal defense lawyer in State College, PA, home of Penn State University. He is a member of the NORML Legal Committee.

"Marijuana is decriminalized in State College! It is now the equivalent of a parking ticket!" Thanks to some irresponsible and inaccurate media reports coupled with a misunderstanding of criminal law, this is the misinformed belief a lot of Penn State students and Centre County residents now have. Given all the confusion generated by this ordinance, it is incumbent upon criminal defense lawyers like me to set the record straight. The bottom line is that the decriminalization ordinance is essentially symbolic, and will have little if any effect on the Penn State community.

"Marijuana is decriminalized in State College! It is now the equivalent of a parking ticket!" Thanks to some irresponsible and inaccurate media reports coupled with a misunderstanding of criminal law, this is the misinformed belief a lot of Penn State students and Centre County residents now have. Given all the confusion generated by this ordinance, it is incumbent upon criminal defense lawyers like me to set the record straight. The bottom line is that the decriminalization ordinance is essentially symbolic, and will have little if any effect on the Penn State community.

On behalf of McClenahen Law Firm posted in Marijuana on Thursday, April 14, 2016.

Marijuana decriminalization will soon be the subject of a public hearing before the State College Borough Council. This hearing could come as soon as May 2, 2016. Although a local government has absolutely no authority to override state or federal criminal laws, it can create borough ordinances subjecting violators to fines and court costs, but not jail time. Thus, if the Borough Council creates an ordinance subjecting a person who possesses a small amount of marijuana to a fine, then the State College Police would have the option of issuing a borough ordinance citation rather than charging a suspect with a misdemeanor under the Pennsylvania Drug Device and Cosmetic Act. The proposed ordinance would cover up to 30 grams of marijuana or up to eight grams of hashish, and subject violators to a $250 fine for possession or a $350 fine for violators smoking in public. So the natural question is whether such an ordinance will have any impact on Penn State students and others in the local cannabis community. I think it is too early to tell. State College Police have already made possession of marijuana for personal use the lowest law enforcement priority. Charges for possession of drug paraphernalia and small amount of marijuana in the borough are very rare, especially when one considers the ubiquity of cannabis consumption these days. There were only 29 small amount of marijuana charges filed in State College Borough in 2015, and based upon my experience, I suspect most of these were "collateral damage" cases. Collateral damage is a term used by both law enforcement and defense attorneys to describe a situation where the police get a search warrant following a controlled-drug buy, and then the police find drugs in the possession of roommates who had nothing to do with the drug sale to a confidential informant. Personal use marijuana cases in State College Borough are so rare that I remember most of cases I have had in this category. By contrast, the Penn State Police aggressively enforce the marijuana prohibition laws, even going so far as wake up judges in the middle of the night to obtain search warrants for dorm rooms in response to the smell of marijuana. I have had so many personal use marijuana cases on the Penn State campus that I lost track years ago. It will be interesting to see whether the State College Police actually enforce the marijuana laws more if they have the option of handing out a citation rather going through the more time-consuming process of filing misdemeanor charges. Perhaps they will, but I doubt that State College Police are going to seek a search warrant every time they smell burnt cannabis in a student apartment hallway. That would be a waste of valuable police resources. The State College Police are far too busy dealing with the mayhem wrought by drunk people. Matt M. McClenahen is a Penn State alumnus, criminal defense attorney in State College, PA, and member of the NORML Legal Committee. http://www.mattmlaw.com/Criminal-Defense-Overview/Marijuana-Related-Offenses.shtml

On behalf of McClenahen Law Firm posted in Fake IDs on Friday, February 12, 2016.

The quick answer is using fake IDs in State College is not a good idea. Occasionally fake IDs will work at a Penn State bar, but if you use a fake ID in this town enough times, you will eventually get caught. A common refrain I hear from clients is "I used this ID all semester with no problem until I got this one bouncer." Others are not so lucky and are busted the first time they try to use a fake ID.

On behalf of McClenahen Law Firm posted in State College on Saturday, August 29, 2015.

Jaywalking in downtown State College is an entrenched part of Penn State culture on par with the Grilled Sticky, Creamery ice cream and mocking the Willard Preacher, but is it legal? One could be forgiven for assuming that something everyone does must be legal, but jaywalking is not legal anywhere in Pennsylvania, including Happy Valley. This essentially means that even some of the most wholesome and harmless Penn State students flout the law every day.

On behalf of McClenahen Law Firm posted in Public Urination on Saturday, August 15, 2015.

Public Urination has gotten so bad in San Francisco that the city is now coating walls in a special type of paint, which sprays urine back onto the perpetrator. How bad is bad? How about so bad that a three-story-tall light post collapsed because it was corroded by years of human and canine urine. This must rank up there with the Cuyahoga River catching on fire in terms of pollution-caused absurdities!

On behalf of McClenahen Law Firm posted in Marijuana on Tuesday, February 17, 2015.

Smoking marijuana in dorms and apartments is a common practice among Penn State students, as is the case at most universities. Yet this time-honored student tradition could get a bit more dangerous in the spring of 2015 with the release of a new tobacco and marijuana smoke detector known as AirGuard. This device ignores things like smoke from cooking or candles, while zeroing in on tobacco and marijuana smoke. Rather than emitting an ear-splitting scream like a conventional smoke detector, the sensor quietly sends an electronic signal to an interested party, such as the police, rental office, hotel front desk, RA or residents life coordinator.

On behalf of McClenahen Law Firm posted in Marijuana on Wednesday, November 5, 2014.

Yesterday, marijuana prohibitionists went 1-3 in ballot measures to re-legalize cannabis for recreational purposes. I use the term "re-legalize," instead of "legalize," because marijuana was legal throughout most of American history, with marijuana prohibition not sweeping the country until the 1920s and 1930s. Alaska, Oregon and Washington DC voters approved recreational marijuana, while a similar measure failed in Florida. Despite 57% of Florida votes in favor of re-legalization, at least 60% of votes were needed, as the measure was presented as an amendment to the state constitution.

On behalf of McClenahen Law Firm posted in Marijuana on Thursday, September 11, 2014.

With Philadelphia poised to become the largest city in the US to decriminalize marijuana, many people are asking how a city has the legal authority to enact its own drug laws. After all, Pennsylvania law already provides penalties for possession, cultivation and sale of marijuana in the Drug Device and Cosmetic Act. Likewise, the federal government also bans the possession, use and distribution of marijuana, however, the feds generally charge people with possession of marijuana only if the offense happened on federal land, like a national park, leaving all other misdemeanor-level drug enforcement to the states. So is Philadelphia a free-city state, able to enact its own laws in contravention of state and federal law?

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